Basic math symbols
SymbolSymbol NameMeaning / definition
=equals signequality
≠not equal signinequality
≈approximately equalapproximation
>strict inequalitygreater than
<strict inequalityless than
≥inequalitygreater than or equal to
≤inequalityless than or equal to
( )parenthesescalculate expression inside first
[ ]bracketscalculate expression inside first
+plus signaddition
−minus signsubtraction
±plus - minusboth plus and minus operations
±minus - plusboth minus and plus operations
*asteriskmultiplication
×times signmultiplication
·multiplication dotmultiplication
÷division sign / obelusdivision
/division slashdivision
–horizontal linedivision / fraction
modmoduloremainder calculation
.perioddecimal point, decimal separator
abpowerexponent
a^bcaretexponent
√asquare root
√a · √a = a
3√acube root 3√a · 3√a · 3√a = a
4√afourth root 4√a · 4√a · 4√a · 4√a = a
n√an-th root (radical)
%percent1% = 1/100
‰per-mille1‰ = 1/1000 = 0.1%
ppmper-million1ppm = 1/1000000
ppbper-billion1ppb = 1/1000000000
pptper-trillion1ppt = 10-12
Geometry symbols
SymbolSymbol NameMeaning / definition
∠angleformed by two rays
measured angle
spherical angle
∟right angle= 90°
°degree1 turn = 360°
degdegree1 turn = 360deg
′primearcminute, 1° = 60′
″double primearcsecond, 1′ = 60″
lineinfinite line
ABline segmentline from point A to point B
rayline that start from point A
arcarc from point A to point B
⊥perpendicularperpendicular lines (90° angle)
| |parallelparallel lines
≅congruent toequivalence of geometric shapes and size
~similaritysame shapes, not same size
Δtriangletriangle shape
|x-y|distancedistance between points x and y
πpi constantπ = 3.141592654...
is the ratio between the circumference and diameter of a circle
radradiansradians angle unit
cradiansradians angle unit
gradgradians / gonsgrads angle unit
ggradians / gonsgrads angle unit
Algebra symbols
SymbolSymbol NameMeaning / definition
xx variableunknown value to find
≡equivalenceidentical to
≜equal by definitionequal by definition
:=equal by definitionequal by definition
~approximately equalweak approximation
≈approximately equalapproximation
∝proportional toproportional to
∞lemniscateinfinity symbol
≪much less thanmuch less than
≫much greater thanmuch greater than
( )parenthesescalculate expression inside first
[ ]bracketscalculate expression inside first
{ }bracesset
⌊x⌋floor bracketsrounds number to lower integer
⌈x⌉ceiling bracketsrounds number to upper integer
x!exclamation markfactorial
| x |single vertical barabsolute value
f (x)function of xmaps values of x to f(x)
(f ∘ g)function composition(f ∘ g) (x) = f (g(x))
(a,b)open interval(a,b) = {x | a < x < b}
[a,b]closed interval[a,b] = {x | a ≤ x ≤ b}
∆deltachange / difference
∆discriminantΔ = b2 - 4ac
∑sigmasummation - sum of all values in range of series
∑∑sigmadouble summation
∏capital piproduct - product of all values in range of series
ee constant / Euler's numbere = 2.718281828...
γ Euler-Mascheroni constantγ = 0.527721566...
φgolden ratiogolden ratio constant
πpi constantπ = 3.141592654...
is the ratio between the circumference and diameter of a circle
Linear Algebra Symbols
SymbolSymbol NameMeaning / definition
·dotscalar product
×crossvector product
A⊗Btensor producttensor product of A and B
inner product
[ ]bracketsmatrix of numbers
( )parenthesesmatrix of numbers
| A |determinantdeterminant of matrix A
det(A)determinantdeterminant of matrix A
|| x ||double vertical barsnorm
ATtransposematrix transpose
A†Hermitian matrixmatrix conjugate transpose
A*Hermitian matrixmatrix conjugate transpose
A -1inverse matrixA A-1 = I
rank(A)matrix rankrank of matrix A
dim(U)dimensiondimension of matrix A
Comments